Once A Gryffindor
by The Gift Of Insanity
Summary: Mandatory resorts are nothing but trouble. Just ask the Marauders.
1. Chapter 1 - Crushes

**A/N - This is my first chapter story, so I'm totally paranoid. Please review and let me know what you think.**

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"Come on, Prongs! I've found a Slytherin-free compartment!" Sirius Black yelled down the Hogwarts Express aisle to his best friend, James Potter.

"Where's Remus?" James asked him, narrowly dodging a suitcase enchanted to fly behind a Ravenclaw fifth year.

"I don't know. Maybe he's being responsible, helping the firsties or something. Speaking of responsible, as Head Boy, shouldn't you be in the prefect compartment?" Sirius replied.

"Nah, Evans told me that I was 'not needed'. What did I ever see in her, Padfoot?" James asked, rolling his eyes in disgust.

"I have no idea." Sirius stretched out across the wide seat, leaning his head against the window. It didn't look very comfortable to James, but Sirius seemed to enjoy it.

The door slid open, and Remus Lupin slipped in, sitting beside James.

"Hey guys, how are you?" he asked.

"Doing alright, I suppose. Are you ready for the annual Sorting Feast pr-"

Remus cut Sirius off. "I don't think it's wise to start pranking just yet, guys. I've heard a disturbing rumor."

"What? What was it?" James asked as Sirius sat up straight.

"Apparently, the Board of Directors is really cracking down when it comes to house unity. Lily said that they have decided to take some drastic measures. In the prefect compartment, I heard a few of the prefects talking about it, too. Apparently, Abraxas Malfoy is furious with Professor Dumbledore."

"So, you think we should hold off for a while?" Sirius asked, disappointed.

"Once we find out what's going on, we can cause all the mischief we want. But from what I've heard, the professors aren't going to put up with it like they used to." Remus replied.

"Man, who would have thought Minnie would go along with this? She hates Slytherin as much as we do, and she normally finds our pranks funny." James said, frowning thoughtfully.

"You'd think that my parents would have said something about this, since my 'loving' father is on the Board." Sirius said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but they hate you, don't they?" James pointed out. "Maybe they told your brother and his friends."

"Why were you even in the prefect compartment? I thought you were done with all that." Sirius said, looking at Remus, asking him with his eyes to change the subject. His family was a subject best left alone; it could upset Sirius like nothing else on earth.

"I am, but Lily wanted to inform me about what James is supposed to be doing, as Head Boy. She seems to believe that you won't be capable of it. It was rather annoying. Normally she doesn't say too much about it, since she knows we're friends." Remus said, rolling his eyes.

James groaned. "I swear I'd love to slap my younger self silly for liking her. Honestly, that girl is the most annoying being on the face of the earth."

Remus looked unsurprised. "I know, Prongs. Your letters made that fact very clear. Who was the Muggle you met, by the way? You didn't say in your letters."

James winced. "Well, I don't really want to say."

"You told us you had a summer fling with a Muggle, but you don't want to explain who it was?" Sirius asked, surprised. "Was there something wrong with her?"

"It was a bloke." James blurted out, and then winced as if he was expecting an explosion.

"That's it? I thought that it would have been worse, like having extra fingers, or a third nipple, or a hundred tattoos of other people all over. Something really weird." Sirius replied, looking relieved. James stared in disbelief at him.

"Honestly, James, I'm alright with it." Remus said when James turned to look at him.

"I really thought you two would hate me for it." James confessed. Remus smiled softly at him.

"You accepted my furry little problem. It would be hypocritical of me to have any prejudice towards someone's sexuality, when I'm a werewolf, don't you think?" Remus explained.

James nodded, looking rather dazed. He turned to Sirius again, who had grabbed one of Remus' notebooks out of his open bag and was doodling in the margins with a self-inking quill. "Why don't you have an issue with it, Padfoot?"

"Dude, have you seen my family? I don't care who you have sex with, so long as it's not your own mom or dad. Sex is awesome, and everyone should be able to enjoy it."

James laughed, feeling a great deal better.

"There you guys are!" Peter exclaimed, opening the door and sliding in. "I've been looking everywhere! The food trolley is on its way."

"Hey, Peter." Remus said, smiling at the chubby boy.

"Want to play some Exploding Snap, Wormtail?" Sirius asked, opening his suitcase.

"Sure!"

Remus reached into his bag and pulled out a book, reclaiming his notebook and quill from the seat where Sirius had abandoned them.

"Just don't blow up anything important, you two." he admonished them playfully, opening his book.

"That was one time, Moony! Madame Pomfrey was able to grow Prongs' toes back, anyway, so it's not like it was too bad." Sirius said, laughing when James tucked his feet underneath him at the reminder.

James leaned back, watching his friends play. He smiled. Their last year at Hogwarts was off to a great start.


	2. Chapter 2 - Announcements

Sitting at the Gryffindor table, Remus Lupin was doing his best to read his Transfiguration textbook before class the next day. It wasn't easy when he was sitting beside two lunatics throwing leftover Chocolate Frogs at each other, but he intended to persevere.

"Oi, you berk, watch the hair!" Sirius said to James, dodging the chocolatey missile. He lost his balance and knocked into Remus, who dropped his book into the treacle tart he had saved from the trolley. Remus heaved a long-suffering sigh, grabbed his book out of the treacle tart, cleaned it with a muttered spell, and put it back in his bag. You could only persevere so much before giving up, after all.

"Sorry, Moony." Sirius said apologetically. Remus shrugged.

"If I don't know the information by now, I'll never know it. I've finished all my summer homework, so I guess I'm ready for class."

"We had summer homework?" James asked, looking horrified.

Remus glared at him. "Yes, and it counts for ten percent of our grade, so you'd better have done it!"

"Relax, Moony. Prongs is just teasing you. We used the mirrors and worked on it together." Sirius said, smirking. Considering that the two-way mirrors had been his idea in the first place, he thought that he was entirely justified in taking the credit.

Remus shook his head. His best friends would be the death of him someday.

James looked at the Head Table, and nudged Sirius.

"Look at Professor McGonagall. She looks like she's going to cough up a hairball." he whispered, trying to avoid her overhearing him. She had cat ears, after all. Sirius looked up and raised his eyebrows.

"Think it has something to do with the way Slytherin House is acting?" Sirius whispered back. James glanced over at them. The Slytherins seemed to know something, constantly whispering to one another and smirking at the other houses. Then again, they usually looked like that, so it was kind of hard to tell.

"Tell Remus to look at them. Let's see what he thinks." James decided. Sirius nodded, poking Remus in the ribs.

Just as Remus opened his mouth to ask Sirius what he wanted, the doors to the Great Hall opened. The First Years all stood in a line, looking like they were going to pass out. Behind them were Abraxas Malfoy and Orion Black, the two leaders of the Board of Directors.

"We'll talk later." James whispered, knowing that Remus would never talk during the Sorting. Remus nodded, turning to watch the first child walk to the Hat.

James and Sirius amused themselves by casting Tripping Jinxes and Sneezing Hexes on the First Years as they walked to the Sorting Hat. Remus shook his head in weary amusement, wondering if he could get away with reading his book under the table. This was the longest Sorting he had ever sat through, and he was starting to get bored.

The Sorting eventually ended, and Mr. Malfoy took the platform to give a speech.

"Students, for many years we have encouraged the four houses of Hogwarts to be rivals. You challenge one another for points, for grades, and for the Quidditch cup. This is to teach the benefits of competition. However, it appears now that it may have gone too far. That is why, starting this year, all Seventh Year students will be resorted. This will give you the opportunity to make new friends, and to experience new viewpoints in life."

For the first time in history, every student in Hogwarts was silent for about thirty seconds. Then the whispers started.

"Is this even legal?" James hissed at his friends, who were horror-struck. "Shouldn't we have known about this before they decided?"

"I'm going to kill them." Sirius muttered, glaring at the Slytherins. Several of them were looking at the Marauders, laughing at them for being out of the loop.

"So, when Professor McGonagall calls your name, please come up to be resorted." Mr. Malfoy finished, sitting back down.

"Black, Andromeda."

The rather dainty girl got up gracefully from the Ravenclaw table, almost dancing to the stool.

_ "Ravenclaw!" _the hat cried. Sirius smiled, nodding his head to her as she reclaimed her spot.

"She's the best of the family." he told his friends.

"Black, Bellatrix." Professor McGonagall said, frowning slightly. The black haired girl strode up to the Sorting Hat and sat down on the stool.

_ "Slytherin!" _the hat yelled almost immediately.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'd have been worried if she'd been anywhere else. She's a sadistic bint."

"Isn't she the one Lily transfigured into an onion?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. I still have the pictures from that. It was absolutely hilarious." Sirius whispered back, grinning at the memories.

"Black, Narcissa."

"How many more of your cousins are there?" James asked Sirius.

"I'm the last one with the name Black, and I'm going next." he replied, watching Narcissa walk back to Slytherin, nose in the air.

"Black, Sirius." McGonagall called out. He stood up, glanced at his friends, and walked confidently to the stool. No one but his friends could see the fear in his eyes.

_ "Hmm. Sirius Black. Yes, I remember. Brave, not afraid to stand up for your beliefs, courageous. But now I see something else in your mind as well. You will destroy anyone who dares harm someone you love. You have become more cunning as well, planning your pranks and mischievous tricks. I had offered Slytherin to you in your first year, but you chose against it. I think I would like to see what you will become there."_

"Please, don't put me there. I don't care where I go, just not there." Sirius thought to the hat, shaking his head slightly.

_ "I can't take your opinion into consideration this time, Mr. Black. Hogwarts herself told me to sort based on what was in the student's heart and mind. You will do well in SLYTHERIN!" _The hat shouted the last word.

Everyone gasped in shock, turning to one another to whisper about this turn of events. If someone who was as perfectly Gryffindor as Sirius Black ended up into Slytherin, who knows what else could happen.

Sirius walked to the Slytherin table, feeling as if there was ice replacing the blood in his veins. All the Slytherins stared at him in surprise as he sat at the end of their table, not even remembering to sneer. His father, watching from the Head Table, exchanged a look with Abraxas. It seemed that many things would be changing this year. They both smiled slightly.

Albus Dumbledore, on the other hand, looked as if he was choking on one of his lemon drops.

Sirius zoned out for some of the sorting, only glancing up when Lily Evans was sorted into Slytherin. She sat across from him. She would be the first muggleborn girl in the house's history, and the others at the table were already glaring at her. Sirius nodded to her, and she smiled slightly back. She was so pale with nerves that it made her red hair look like flames.

"Don't worry, Gryffindors stick together." she whispered to him across the table. He grinned, feeling a little better.

Severus Snape was trying to catch Lily's eye, but she ignored him, preferring to whisper with Sirius about where their friends were going. The Mudblood comment he had made almost two years ago still stung, and she wasn't sure she could talk to him now without feeling that pain.

"Lupin, Remus." Both their heads turned to watch as their friend walked up to the hat, hands fisted by his sides.

_ "SLYTHERIN!"_ the hat shouted. Everyone's eyes widened even further. Two of the famous Marauders, Slytherin's most hated enemies, had ended up in that house.

Remus took the seat beside Lily, who automatically shifted over to make room. The former Gryffindors were hanging onto the very edge of Slytherin table, distancing themselves as much as they could from the rest of the house.

"I'd hoped for Ravenclaw." Remus whispered to both of them. Lily nodded in agreement.

"The Hat's not listening to us this time." she whispered. Sirius grimaced.

"Tell me about it." he muttered. "He said that Hogwarts herself had told him what to do."

"Normally, Hogwarts doesn't bother speaking to the Hat or individual students; she relies on the Headmaster or Headmistress to follow her will - or to face the consequences." Lily said, with Remus nodding.

"How do you two know that?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"It was mentioned a few times in Hogwarts: A History - Extended Edition." Remus answered, smiling as Sirius rolled his eyes at the mention of Remus' favorite book.

"Pettigrew, Peter." Remus and Sirius looked at one another and mouthed _HUFFLEPUFF _along with the hat. They clapped for him as he took his new seat, and he waved at them.

"Potter, James." Remus and Sirius exchanged a long look, and then Sirius slid over to make an empty space at the end of the bench.

_ "SLYTHERIN!"_ the hat called out once again. By now, the Slytherins looked like Professor McGonagall was doing the cha-cha naked on Hufflepuff's table. They looked at the Marauders' corner of their table, horror and disgust on their normally expressionless faces.

James took his seat, cursing under his breath. Remus patted his hand under the table, and Sirius nudged his leg in a silent show of support.

"Since we're stuck in the same situation, would you mind if I called you James? It would be best to make it seem like we're united so that the Slytherins won't try to attack us." Lily asked him quietly.

"Not at all, Ev- I mean Lily." he said, smiling wanly.

"That's a good idea." Remus said. "The Slytherins will use any excuse to destroy us, but we mustn't make it easy for them."

Once the sorting was finally complete, the food appeared. Normally they would dig in like wild animals, but this time they could barely stomach a few bites. Everyone in the Great Hall seemed to have the same problem. The new First Years were the only ones who seemed content.

The Slytherin prefects stood up after the meal, and the ex-Gryffindors got up with the First Years and the other new Slytherins to follow them to their new house.

Remus glanced at their former table, which now had three Slytherins, five Hufflepuffs, and two Ravenclaws sitting with them. The original Gryffindors were looking around at where their friends had scattered, and when they met his eyes, they looked at him with pity.

He sighed, following the prefects.

When they got to the Slytherin common room, the prefects stopped at the large staircases at the back of the room.

"Girls on the left, guys on the right. If you need anything, deal with it yourself." one of them said, glaring at all of them.

Lily nodded, giving Remus a quick hug and walking quickly up the stairs, along with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls. James, Sirius, and the Ravenclaw boys went up their stairs immediately, while Remus watched to make sure the girls were all right, because he didn't trust the prefects not to curse them while their backs were turned. Then he followed the boys to their new dorms.

It was okay, if you liked green and silver, but after so many years of the blinding red and gold, none of them could get used to it. They all tossed and turned for hours, until finally they fell into a restless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3 - Threats

Waking up, Sirius thought for a second that he was back at Grimmauld Place, in his parents' room. Green and silver hangings, green bedcovers, and a silver ceiling replaced the red and gold that he was so used to.

"Sirius, are you okay?" Remus asked, seeing Sirius sit up and look around with a confused look on his face. Suddenly, comprehension gleamed in Sirius' eyes and he groaned, laying back down.

"I thought it was just a bad dream!" he said angrily.

"James reacted the same way." Remus said, getting up and walking over to Sirius' bed. He sat down beside Sirius, running his fingers through the long black hair of his best friend. "I didn't want to believe it either." he confessed, hanging his head slightly.

"This is absolutely insane. We had no warning whatsoever that this would happen to us! This was supposed to be our best year at Hogwarts yet, Moony!" Sirius ranted angrily, panting by the end of it.

Remus stood up again, starting to pace as he thought.

"What good would it have done to warn us?" he asked Sirius, angry at the situation himself. "I don't think that anyone would allow us to just transfer schools on a whim, and our only other options would have been Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, or private tutors, anyway."

"I think I'd rather go to Beauxbatons." James said, coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "It would be better than Hogwarts at the moment."

Remus nodded in agreement, sitting back down on Sirius' bed. James got his clothes, dressed, and then joined them.

"Breakfast is going to start in about an hour." Sirius said, sounding depressed, a definite first when it came to food. "Should we just wait up here for an hour, or should we try to brave the common room?"

"On the one hand, I don't want them to think that we're afraid of them. On the other hand, if we go down there…" Remus said, trailing off.

"If they try anything, we're going to hurt them, the mood we're in right now." James finished. Remus nodded, curling up to Sirius tighter.

"Can you check the Map to see where Lily is?" Remus asked James. "If she's down there alone, I want to be there for her."

James got to his feet, going to his trunk on the other side of the room.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." he said, smiling as the ink spread across the previously blank parchment. Remus and Sirius got up and stood beside him.

"There she is." Sirius said, pointing to the map. "She's alone in a dorm room."

"I think that they didn't want to risk mixing us all together immediately. We have our own dorm, after all. And look, the two Ravenclaw guys are rooming together, and the three girls." Remus said, his finger tracing their names.

"And there's that Hufflepuff girl, Aurora. You know, the one who's dating Lovegood." James said.

"Is there a way to let Lily know our plans?" Sirius asked. "That way, we don't have to worry if the Slytherins are going to kill her."

"I think I'd be more worried for the Slytherins." Remus said, laughing a little. "Lily won't put up with anything that they try."

"True. For once, it's going to be amusing to see her curse the spit out of someone." James said.

"Other than you, you mean." Sirius said, teasing James.

"Exactly." James said, grinning at him.

"Should be interesting. After all, Lily has a vicious streak in her." Remus mentioned.

"Don't we all?" James asked. "We just never really let anyone know about it."

"Anyway, back to letting Lily know. I think that I could send her a quick letter, the way we sometimes pass notes in History of Magic." Remus said, grabbing a spare roll of parchment and a quill and taking a seat at the desk in the middle of the room.

"And yet you scold James and I for passing notes?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow at Remus. "Shame on you, Remus, passing notes." he scolded him jokingly.

"Lily and I aren't dumb enough to pass notes in front of a teacher who would love to assign us detentions!" Remus defended himself, blushing. "You know McGonagall hates anyone not paying attention."

"Minnie loves us no matter what we do." James said, sounding perfectly convinced. "She gives us detentions so that we can spend more time with her."

Remus snorted. "If you say so." He finished the letter, and got his wand from his bed stand.

"Will you ever teach us that spell?" Sirius asked in exasperation as Remus nonverbally enchanted the parchment to fly.

"Nope." Remus said, grinning when Sirius pouted.

"What did you tell her?" he asked.

"Just that we weren't ready to go down yet, but that we'd meet her in forty minutes. That will give us enough time for Padfoot and I to shower, and for me to start filling those empty bookcases up." Remus replied.

"Cool." Sirius said, stretching. "I call dibs on the shower."

"Alright. Prongs, could you help me with some of my books?"

"Sure." James said, wincing slightly. He knew how many books Remus had, and he was pretty sure that it would take more than forty minutes to go through them all.

"When did you put these books here?" James asked, motioning to an already-filled bookcase.

"Those aren't mine." Remus said in confusion. He walked over to the bookcase. "How To Win At Any Cost? Fool-Proof Alibis? They all seem to be about how to be a Slytherin!"

"Typical. Bet you anything that Slughorn put them in here so that you can teach us from them." James said, sneering at the books. "I'm calling this bookcase the Slytherinization Agenda, just so you know."

"Ooh, a big word." Remus said, laughing when James threw a book at him. Remus cast a Cushioning Charm on the book, so that it wasn't damaged.

"Look, their covers are all green and silver!" James said, looking at the books closer.

"I should read them, just to get a feel for how the Slytherins think and all." Remus said, chewing his lip as he reached for one.

"Later." Sirius said, coming out of the bathroom dressed for class, scowling as he tied the green and silver Slytherin tie around his neck. "Once you get your shower, we can meet Evans."

"Lily." Remus reminded him patiently, grabbing his clothes. Sirius nodded, grabbing his hairbrush from his trunk.

"Hurry up, Moony! I don't want my hair to dry like this." Sirius said, pushing Remus toward the bathroom.

James checked the map again while his friends argued over the bathroom. It seemed like all of the other new Slytherins had the same idea as them, staying in their dorms until the last second. The common room was packed with Slytherin's upper years, almost none of whom had been resorted. Only seven were in new Houses: three were now in Gryffindor and four in Ravenclaw.

Out of all the Slytherins, James was most worried about Severus Snape. He and his friends had bullied Snape relentlessly, and now they were trapped in his house. You didn't have to be a genius to know that this was going to end catastrophically badly. If the shoe was on the other foot, he knew that he'd already have tried something.

Even Professor Dumbledore may not be able to stop Snape now that they were resorted into Slytherin.

His friends barged out of the bathroom, interrupting his worried thoughts. He told himself that he was just being overdramatic, but he couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had.

"Are we ready to go?" Remus asked.

"Not really, but we don't have a choice." was Sirius' annoyed reply. He looked at Remus apologetically a second later. "I'm sorry, Moony. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"I understand, Padfoot. This is your worst nightmare."

"Literally. I used to have nightmares when I was ten about being a Slytherin." Sirius confessed.

"With the family you have, I'm not surprised." James said, rolling his eyes.

"Normally, I'd snap at them about how I was sorted into Gryffindor, which means that I'm nothing like them, but they'll probably point out that I'm not a Gryffindor anymore, and I really don't want to get into that." Sirius said, shaking his head.

"Since Hogwarts decided to ignore our requests, maybe we should just go along with this for now." Remus said, shrugging. "At least, we shouldn't borrow trouble."

"And on that note, let's go down to the Common Room, full of people who hate our guts and would love to see us drowned in a cauldron, and try not to kill them." James chimed in, smiling when Sirius and Remus laughed.

As they walked out the door and headed down the staircase, they saw Lily coming down the opposite staircase. They met at the base of the stairs, before turning to look at all of Slytherin House's Fifth through Seventh years gathered in front of the entranceway.

"Remember, play nice." Remus murmured quietly to his friends. They nodded slightly, approaching the blockade. They stopped about ten feet away.

"Do you all really think that you'll get out of here without a lesson?" Bellatrix Black asked, pulling out her wand. "You don't belong here."

"Define nice." Sirius said to Remus, putting his hand on his wand without looking away from Bellatrix. "Because I think it would be nice for my eyes if some of that wild hair of hers was cut off. I won't cut her neck…much."

James laughed appreciatively. "Nice. I would have gone for her fingernails, personally, but your method works too."

Lily nodded. "I think that maybe she wasn't suited to being an onion. What do you all think of a worm?"

"Love it." was Remus' opinion, as he looked straight into Bellatrix's eyes, letting some of the wolf's amber color seep into his normally blue eyes. She flinched, almost imperceptibly, but the former Gryffindors caught it. They all smiled viciously. They almost never let their sadistic sides out to play, but they enjoyed it when they had the chance.

"You're outnumbered." Bellatrix said smoothly, shocked when they all looked at her and shrugged.

"Honestly, I don't think that really matters." Lily said. "Because maybe one of your friends would get us, but we would already have destroyed you."

Every Slytherin gasped at her words, said in such a calm tone that it seemed like she was talking about the weather or homework.

"Anyone else?" Sirius asked, pushing Bellatrix out of the way. He turned to meet the eyes of every Slytherin.

"Come on, I'm starving." James said, pushing through the crowd. The others followed him, not backing down. The Slytherins parted to let them through.

Half an hour later, at a section of the breakfast table that was pretty much deserted, the Marauders and Lily noticed that the Slytherins were glancing at them and whispering among themselves.

"Merlin, can they make it any more obvious? Why not just stand up with a sign that says 'We couldn't bully them'?" Sirius asked in exasperation after a few minutes.

"I don't know." Remus said, grabbing some more scrambled eggs and fruit. "For all that this is the house of cunning, they don't seem to follow their own rules very well."

"Exactly." Sirius said, poking James' hand with a fork when he tried to steal a piece of bacon. "They've never been too good at subtlety, but this is just pathetic."

"Subtlety? You're lecturing someone on subtlety?" Remus teased. Sirius stuck his tongue out.

"Look!" Lily exclaimed, pointing to Gryffindor's table.

"Speaking of subtlety…" she smacked Remus' shoulder for that comment, not looking away from whatever had caught her attention.

"Frank and Alice are holding hands!" she said excitedly.

"Good for them. Frank's been trying to get up the courage to ask her all year." James said.

When Frank glanced over to their table, they raised their glasses toward him, and he beamed. He nudged Alice, who looked over and smiled when she saw their friends celebrating their new relationship.

"Well, I guess that's everyone from our study group except you and I." Lily said, looking at Remus.

"You'll probably be next." he said, pouring himself a cup of tea.

"What about you, James?" Lily asked. "I noticed that you've finally stopped asking me out."

"I'll tell you later." he promised, glancing at the Slytherins who were close enough to eavesdrop. She bobbed her head slightly in understanding.

"I think that you two will become friends, now that there's no flirting." Sirius said. "You both have the same sense of humor."

Lily smiled at James. "I think that I'd like that."

James grinned back at her.

"Anyone caught your eye, Lily?" Remus asked, before dropping his voice. "I hope you're not still crushing on…" he let his sentence drift off, looking at her meaningfully.

She winced, looking down at her plate. "It's just hard for me to let him go, Rem. You know how it is. He was my best friend for so long."

"He doesn't care about you. He made that very clear." Remus said gently, doing his best not to hurt her feelings as he made his point. "It's been a year and a half, and he hasn't even apologized for what he called you."

"Wait, are you talking about Snivellus?" Sirius asked, looking between them. Remus nodded.

Sirius turned to Lily. "That situation is nothing but trouble, Lils. Trust me, he's practicing magic that you don't want to be dealing with."

"Dark magic?" she asked, looking as if she would throw up.

"He's best friends with Lucius Malfoy and Rudolphus Lestrange. He's definitely doing at least some dark magic. It's practically food to their lot." he said in disgust.

"Wouldn't Professor Dumbledore sense it?" James asked. "Can't the Aurors do something?"

"Prongs, you can't arrest someone just for being Dark. It's when it's illegal magic that it becomes a problem, and most dark magic isn't illegal. Dumbledore can sense their magical affinity, but he can't do anything about it." Remus explained. "And there's almost no way to tell just from the feel of magic whether it's illegal or not, except in the case of the Unforgivables. They actually taint your magic, making it extremely dark for several hours." he continued.

"Huh. So, there's really no way to know?" Lily asked, leaning in.

"Not unless you cast Priori Incantatum, which doesn't work on wandless spells, not to mention you can clear your wand history out pretty easily." Sirius cut in, taking over the explanation.

"How do you know so much about this?" Lily asked him.

"I'm a Black. We're taught this stuff as bedtime stories." he said, scowling at the memories. "My mother used to make me study for two hours a day about all the different facets of magic."

"So, every Dark family knows all of this?" Remus asked. They were getting into this discussion, ignoring everyone else at the table.

"Pretty much. I mean, my family has their secrets, just like every other Pureblood family, but for the most part, yeah." Sirius said. "How do you know, Remus?"

"I had to learn." he said, rubbing at the bite-shaped scar over his heart. It was his nervous tic, the unconscious movement he made whenever they talked about his lycanthropy. "Once I found out that my…situation was permanent, I did all the research that I could on the subject. I even had Dad take me to Knockturn Alley to get a few Darker books on the subject. According to them, I'm considered neutral, and that's only because I've never cast a dark spell. Dark magic is my natural affinity."

"Wow. Do you still have those books?" Lily asked. "I'd love to read them."

"Yeah, I've got them in my trunk, under a glamour that makes it seem like they're about History Of Magic."

"Clever." Lily said. "No one ever reads anything about that subject."

"Exactly." Remus said. "And it's not like anyone would believe that I would care about dark magic."

"So, just because you're a werewolf, it actually changes your magic?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, it's the reason that we're classified as Dark Creatures."

"Guys, I think it's time for class." Sirius interrupted their discussion, seeing their classmates rise around them. "Better hurry if you want a good seat in Charms." he said, jokingly. Everyone knew that Lily and Remus had no problem kicking other people out of their seats.

As they got up, Lucius Malfoy watched them leave, eyebrows raised.

For all their intelligence, the Marauders and Lily had forgotten one crucial thing: a privacy charm.


End file.
